Diary of Garth Edward Sommerville Clabburn - 1942-1944 - Part 3

at its colossal structer surrounded

by a sea of flattened buildings.

I even found where 220 Old Changi

had been & recognised some

burnt Hedgely Dean Prints lying

in a heap on the footpath. I 

did not contact my old firm, 

apart from this. For the crypt

of St Paul's were masses of

tombs, the biggest & most

weighty being that of the

Duke of Wellington. He had

a whopping stone sitting on his 

chest, & the tremendous carved cart

of about 20 wheels which bore his

body was still standing in all its

glory in a dark corner.

It was while having lunch at Aust

House one of these days that I

met & recognised immediately a

little fellow who used to be

a school pal of mine years ago

when I was attending Eastern Hutt

State School in N.Z. He & his 

friend from the Boys Home

[*Billy McLean*] had joined the merchant marine & had

been many times around the world since

last I had seen them. We had a good

chat over old times & I am afraid

that these two fellows had lacked

the good homely upbringing that I

had enjoyed & they appeared to

me to be a very tough & rough

pair, with the wrong slant on life.

After a few days we tired a little

of the rush & bustle of this great

city & pushed off to Paington in

Sth Devon to visit my Aunt &

Uncle & Cousins who were living

there in a big new home by the

sea. They proved to be a 

charming & most interesting

family & Peter & I really did

enjoy our three days stay. We

spent two days rambling

around the cliffs at Brigham

& gazing at the little fishing

fleets & all the gulls &

small fish. These were very

happy & carefree days & we

were sorry to leave Sth Devon after

being recalled to Bournemouth.

Peter & I spent a funny night

when we found ourselves stranded

at a place called Winchester. We

headed for the TOC H place & found

that although it was to cost us

nothing we slept on the floor

under a couple of none to 

clean blankets, all in together.

However we thought nothing of this

after sinking a couple of pints

of draught cider at one of the

old local inns. After two pints of

this stuff you can rush through

the solid black out like a knife

through butter & strangely rarely hit

anything.

In reaching Bournemouth I found I was

posted to No. 59 O.T.W. Crosby on Eden near

Carlisle. Unfortunately Peter was sent

to a Spitfire School near London

& we parted in a hurry. McPherson

Bill Evatt Youl & I were the

only Aussies to go along to this

Hurricane school & I think we were a

little sorry at the time that we were not

going to fly Spitfires. However we soon

found out that the old Hurricanes were

very fine machines to throw about even

though they had been left far behind

in the race for deadly front line A/C.

No 59 O.T.W. was my first experience of a

dispersed war time air station & the 

distances we had to walk to & from

the flight our quarters & the mess were

very great. This is a good factor

for pilots, for we get little physical

exercise as a rule, but I am afraid

this dispersed plan also eats into

the efficiency of the working

hours of the station tremendously.

F/Lt Danning D.F.C. White was our flight/Com

& P/O Bennham the other instructor.

They both proved themselves very fine
fellows & most efficient instructors.
They had had both fought their way

through the Battle of Britain in

Hurricanes & they did not let

up for a minute in handing on

[*F/Lt Marples D.F.C.
joined the
flight while
we were
stationed at
the Longtown
Satilite. He
is one of
the finest
& funniest
Englishmen I
have ever
met & now
understand
he is out
here in the
W/D. 
23.June 1942.*]
to all of us bg bags of invaluable
"GEN". Flight Sergeant Gillies DFM joined us
towards the end of our course &
he proved to be one of the finest
givers of "Pukka GEN" I have ever
met. He was actually a Spitfire Offs.
pilot — & he really knew the score
& had the happy knack of passing
it on to all the boys. He could
give informal tatics lectures all
day long at dispersal & have
all of us in fits of laughter
most of the time.
Our C/O was W/C David DFC & Bar & one of
England's leading fighter pilots. He gave
one or two interesting talks on what
sort sought of fighting we could expect over
England & France but I do not think
he took advantage of his position &
feel that he could have taught us
more in the time he had at his disposal.
Bad accidents during our stay were
few for an O.T.W. & there were only
three fatal crashes. A fine N.Z. P/o
with whom I used to play rugby
[*P/o Hicks*] flew into a mountain in the mist &
burnt. Towards the end of the course
an English lad & a Canadian were both
killed when they collided on coming
in to land. This was a case of
not looking around sufficiently before
making the last turn cross wind.
It was at one of the W.A.A.F's dances
held on the station that I meet Billy
M^cMahon & struck up a very close &
lasting friendship.
For a fortnight we went as a flight
to a satalite drome called Longtown
& while operating from here carried
out some very fine low flying at
about 5 ft over the Solway Firth.
Sgt Campbell & P/o Macpherson on one
trip collided with a flight of Seagulls
& were lucky to get out of the
mix up with a couple of broken
leading edges (2 gulls failed to return to base.)
We spent many happy nights at
a dear old English pub named
the Salutation situated on an old
Roman road about a mile from our
[*Campbell went
to Burma from
Egypt.*]

[*It was in this
old pub that
all the
pilots of
our flight
celebrated
Christmas Eve
with a few
drinks before
dinner. We
had competition
on another
night seeing
who could
drink a pint
the quickest.
Texas Dan
beat Mac
by about
three gulps.
            ↑
P/o O'Brien*] 
sleeping quarters. The owners were typical
of rural England & most hospitable.
They took us in & we almost became
members of the family & were very
sad to leave the friendly atmosphere
when the time came to push on again.
I found the planes fairly easy to fly
& throw around & managed a
few hours of night flying. By this
time all the ground was snow covered
& we nearly all froze every night &
morning. One of the major jobs every
day was to spend an hour or so
trying to get the infernal stove
in the room to light. Many a
time I gave it up as a bad job
& retired to the old Salutation

where there was always a bonnie

fire.

After having got about 34 hrs up & having

managed to scrape through a couple

of exams in aero engines & A/C identification

we finally found that we were all

posted to the Middle East &

immediately set about fixing up clearances

& pushing off on leave just as fast as

we could.

With Macpherson I went to Kingussie in

the Scottish Highlands where we had a

really delightful two days stay at the Duke

of Gordon Hotel. We walked around the hills

& valleys in the deep snow & enjoyed

rambling over old castle ruins & eating

precious eggs & bacon for breakfast.

Kingussie is the clan home town of the

Macphersons & I found these true highland

Scots to be very friendly & most

likeable people.

From now on I find I can only

give the briefest of accounts &

will catch up to the present day

in about two pages. From then

on I will keep this as a daily

diary. This will prove of greater

interest to those people who

will browze through these writings

for from all accounts & predictions

the future six months are going

to be the most hectic, exciting,

& dangerous I have yet experienced.

[*Fellow travellers

on the train

were typical

of the country.

All very well

bred & dripping

with blue blood.

One fellow carried

a dead hare

& all the women

wore loud

checked

expensive ill

fitting clothes.

We became

very friendly

with a Mrs

Campbell &

her charming

daughter but

that finished

with the train 

trip.*]

Very shortly I will be fighting in

the air for the Allies & incidently

for my own life — & if that is not

an interesting subject, I defie anyone

to find a more engrossing one.

Well Mac & I next went to Edinburgh

where we bought ourselves a few

nice things & enjoyed clambering all

over the grand old castle. I got

a great thrill travelling across the

Firth of Forth Bridge & in my

excitement forgot to hurl a penny

out & down into the sea for

good luck. After Edinburgh, we

pushed along to Carlilse where

I took Bill to a show, & made

plans to meet again in London on

or about the 20^th Jan 1942. Mac

brought me bags of mail in from

the camp & I spent many happy

hours reading same on the way

to London. We stayed again at

the Strand Palace & had a

grand time. Mac Blunt & Sam

Priestly turned up from their

[*Looked in

at Henry VIII's

wine cellar

down under

this palace

but he had

drunk the 

lot.*]

bomber O.T.U.'s & we made a very

happy four. We went to Hampton

Court Palace & had afternoon tea with

a dear old Lady Fisher & one or

two of England's old but distinguished

judges. The poor souls were very

short of food & [[warmth?]], but I

thoroughly enjoyed their old world

hospitality. They admit they are

always conscious of their reserved

manner & apparent aloofness to

we globe trotters; & they said how

sorry they were that they just

couldn't help it. Of course we

said it was quite all right by

us because, after all, we were

sure that our free & easy outlook 

on life was by far the

happier — so why worry?

We also had a grand night

out with Noel Coward at his

home. We happened to meet him

by chance in Picadilly Circus & he

proved to be a charming &

bright host & good fellow.

[*Whilst at the

Hungaria Club

with Billy we

met up with

Gloria Brent

& since then

she has written

a charming letter.

She is the singer

in Jack Payne's

Band.

Wynn Keating

& her mother

entertained us

in their fine

home at 

Wilmslow.*]

Back to Wilmslow, just south of [[?]]

where we got some tropical kit &

another weeks leave. I grabbed some

more money & went back to London

Heavy snow now all around. Met

Elizabeth & burnt up all my

money with her during the ensuing

week. She wanted to hear the wedding

bells ring, but now I am glad

they didn't, for it would not have

been a good arrangement. Met W/C

White & had a good yarn at

Australia House. Met Sgt

Mitchell at first course at No 1

I.T.S. Somers & heard of some big

adventures over Berlin. Went on

different nights to Hungaria Club.

Queens Brassier, the great

George Black's show called "Get 

a load of this," & many of

war time London's bright spots.

Altogether this little holiday cost

me fifty pounds & all I ended

up with was many happy & exciting

memories  of experiences a new

[*London was

under heavy

snow during

this stay &

the traffic

cut it up into

a fearful mess.

Billy & I used 

to have much

fun sloshing

about in the

snow late at

night trying

to stop the

old cabbies.

They were always

full up

but we were 

usually the same 

way so nobody

worried.*]

dressing gown, a pair of leather

slippers, a bracelet & a silver ring.

Still I do not regret one penny of the

cash I went through in those glorious 

eighteen days for it was one of

the most delightful holidays I have

ever spent. I missed John Lander

by a few blocks for he was staying

all the time just outside London

all the time I was there. I wrote

him from Wimslow & then packed

up with all the boys & pushed off

for Carrock in Scotland where we

went aboard the Polish ship

"Sloveski" & headed out for

Gibraltar. Scotland at the time was

under a deep mantle of snow &

tripping through the hills & dales in 

the large comfortable train was

a pleasure never to be forgotten.

Going through the Shipyards of

this old spot of Scotland was

the only place in the whole of

the British Isles where I saw &

heard the people cheer, These shipbuilding

[*I am now sure

that this is 

perhaps the only

place in all G.

Britain where the

people would

cheer. All are

sick of wars &

only fight now

because they

must. 23 June 1942.*]
families personified the
true spirit of the much needed
war effort at England. They put
all their heart & soul into their
stern job & were happy with it
even though bombed & [[?]] to
the hilt; they all cheered wholeheartedly
we fellows who were
going off to press the gun
buttons. I will always be grateful
to those ship yard workers from
that spontaneous cheer for I
had been looking for that spirit
throughout England during the
previous four months & had
nearly given up hope of ever
seeing a really willing living
spirit of victory when those
xxxxx workers renewed my
waneing faith in warring England!
I fear it will be the Scotts
who will save the day. They
are a stirling people.
The harbour here was a mass of
great & little ships. Every type from
small subs to great battleships rode at
anchor under the snow covered hills &
all in all t'was a magnificent sight.
The baggage party while loading over
a thousand kit bags aboard a tender
dripped one into the sea & it sank
to the bottom — it happened to be
mine. A sailor fellow fished it up &
after a few hours drying out in the
engine room it turned out none
the worse for its dive into the
[[?]]. We sailed in convoy with
the "Batory" & many destroyers. The
trip was uneventful except for a
great deal of seasickness, a past-time
which I did not indulge in.
By coincidence a Mr Robertson was
aboard as a passenger bound for
the Gold Coast. I had met him
the first night I had visited
Elizabeth's home in London & he
had told me then that he
would shortly be going xxxx
to Africa & I had remarked that
perhaps we would go along together.
 

Thanks to him I had two or there
most enjoyable whiskies on what was
otherwise a very dry ship except
for some very punk French vermouth.
Our weeks stay in Gibraltar was
most enjoyable & Mac & I did
a great deal of walking around
this grand old fortress. The town
smelt. We walked to the frontier
& gazed awhile into staring
Spain. All the Spaniards who
worked daily on the rock &
returned across the border each
night looked starved & broken
& I fear they took back
with them each night all the
information the enemy in Spain
needed. I thought the free
entry of these hundreds of
Spanish folk each day to
our frontiers ridiculous
tolerance of the British
Authorities. It was just a
perfect channel for the
leakage of vital information
[*I gave a
letter to Biggs
to be delivered
to Elizabeth in
England & have

just received
word from her
that it arrived
safely & that
she was very
grateful. 1.7.42.*]
of military matters to the enemy.
But the British are always fools
when it comes to preserving the
most obvious things. We were
prevented from posting letters in Gib
because it would tell the enemy
we were there — yet the Spanish
only need to walk across the
border & tell the Germans there all
about us & if we were happy
or no. It was here that I
met Sgt Biggs aboard a Sunderland
from No 10 Squadron. He used to
be with me in old 21 Sq. & we
had a long yarn together just before
he took off for England. I watched
his great flying boat skip off
into the starry night at about
11 P.M. & wished that I was
Captain of a great ship like that.
Such long & interesting trips & so
much of the world to see. - &
such a nice safe job also.
No 10 Sq had lost no ships
through enemy action since the begining
of the war, a fact
 

that speaks for itself. There had
been many crashes - 78 on the Gib
drome during the past three mths.
due mostly I think, to inexperienced
pilots on their first long flight.
I watched a "Wimpy" crash nicely
one afternoon there, & there was
no excuse for it except a
very poor landing & big bounce.
[*Macpherson
Dafforn & I
did a great
deal of sun-baking
in one of the gun
posts on the
boat deck.*]
We had to wait here so long
for a torpeoed ship which
staggered in with her stern
blown off. 23 fellows had been
killed & they were a bit
shot of everything. After much
moaning & a little [[munity?]] we
transferred to a little cattle
ship & sailed for the Gold Coast.
It was a terrible trip but made
interesting by the many great
schools of porpoise we steamed
through. One ship was the Ulster
Monarche & she sailed under the
White Ensign. The skipper berthed
at Takoradi in too much of a
hurry & wiped off half the bridge,
against the claims of a large cargo
ship which, at the time, was unloading
bombs. Fortunately nobody was squashed
by the great weight of steel & stuff
falling into the forward well deck.
Besides to this we had spent a day
at Bathurst & about a week in
Freetown. This last port was just
a maze of ships - mostly old
tramps, but all carting something.
Some of the lads had a swim in
the bay & the ship was always
surrounded by dozens of black
boys in little canoes selling bananas
& oranges & coconuts. The access
of cheap fruit gave all the boys
a sudden attack of quick starts
& we were all anything but
regular fellows, - as the
breakfast food companies are
so fond of advertising.
F/Lt Dafforn D.F.C. was one of our regular
sunbathing club & has since turned
as brown as any "wog". 

[*Takoradi*]
[*Up the Prau River
we visited an
old native village
& the old chief
who was all done
up in the most
gaudy orange robes
made us a
present of a large
bunch of bananas.
We gave him some
pipe tobacco in
return. Like all
villages this one
smelt to high
heaven but
was very interesting
for it was the
real thing &
right in the
heaviest jungle.*]
We were all very happy to get ashore
& into this fine Air force Station. The
place was efficient & the native Taboor
unlimited. Food & quarters were just
heaven compared with what we had
been used to at sea & for over
a week we revelled. Partook of
a few good swims in the warm
blue sea & went for a trip
up the Prau River in native canoes.
The steaming heat was terrific but the
interesting heaving jungle full of
big snakes coconut & natives
& bananas made up for all the
discomfort. Could not get over the
system at the women doing most
of the heavy manual work.
Saw the first Kitty hawks being 
assembled & was entertained by
tom-tom playing natives in the
compound one bright night.
Left for Cairo in Pan American DCF.
The 3600 mile trip was interesting
& most efficiently organised by those
go ahead Americans. Had wonderful
[*This spot is always
remembered by all
who have flown
over this route.*]
meal - best since leaving Canada right
out in African wilderness at place
named Maduggri. Swam in the pool
at night on large station in
Kartoum. Arrived in Cairo & was
immediately caught up in general
R.A.F. mess up. Spent three weeks
in city staying in various hotels
& spend the days swimming at
[*Sent home from
Cairo a few
little silver things
& a bottle of perfume
for the girls. I
doubt now if they
ever arrived.
1.7.42.*] 
Mena House & walking around the
Pyramids. Sgt Bill Brown & I saw
all there was to see off this big
smelly place & I must say that
apart for the old tombs & interesting
spots like that, the things
I enjoyed most of all were
the fruit salad & ice creams
served up by the girls in the
N.Z. Club. This club does a great
job of work & I dont know
what fellows in Cairo would
do without it.
At last posted to Almaza &   
from there to Al Ballah.
A wonderful thing happened